The 2010 Mid-American Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships are this weekend and the Falcons have been excited about it for quite some time.
BG coach Cami Wells isn’t downplaying the importance of this meet.
“This is the meet we train for in the indoor season. It’s our biggest meet of the season to this point. So we’re excited for it; we have been for some time,” she said. “We’re excited to get going, as healthy as we can be at this point.”
The MAC Championships is a two-day event and the Falcons’ first meet away from home this season. The Falcons have one team title and a runner-up finish in four home meets this season.
Points will be hard to come by this weekend, as Wells says, the meet will be very challenging.
“We expect some very strong competition in every event,” she said. “We just want to get there and have everybody give their best effort and fight for points just like we have all season.”
BG’s top performers this season have been senior pole vaulter Sabrina Forstein and freshman sprinter Jeanette Pettigrew.
Forstein broke the school record earlier this season and now owns the top-two marks in school history. Her best mark this season is good enough for eighth in the MAC currently.
Pettigrew has won the 60 meter dash in every meet she has competed in this season. Her best time of 7.61 seconds currently ranks fifth among all MAC athletes this season.
Forstein and most of her teammates have a lot of veteran experience on the conference championship stage, but the key for Pettigrew and the other freshmen is to approach this meet just like any other, Wells said.
“The more you can stick to your routine that you’re comfortable with and that has brought you success to this point, the better you’re going to be at this point by not letting the surroundings and the competition level change their individual approaches,” Wells said.
Last season BG placed 11th and had 10 athletes set new personal records. Akron has won the last five women’s indoor conference championships.
The meet begins at 10 a.m. today at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich. The women resume competition Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
